The first serious inkling that I might become a professional
actor occurred at Roosevelt Jr. High in San Diego, California where
I played a dastardly villain in an old fashioned melodrama. Then at
Point Loma High School, San Diego I discovered a magnificent old theater
on campus and two excellent drama teachers.

Richard Englehart & Mike Auer

There were rave reviews and an amazing audience response to the musical
"MAN OF LA MANCHA" in which I played Sancho Panza. The show
received great acclaim at Point Loma High in 1970. Here is a shot taken
during rehearsals.

As Sookie, the Old Hermit, in the musical "Wildcats"
in May 1971 directed by Richard Englehart.

In September 1971 I enrolled at Pacific University, Forest Grove,
Oregon under the guidance of the inspirational Theodore Sizer who
encouraged me to pursue acting as a profession.

As Uncas the "German Indian" in Arthur Kopit's exploration
of the American West in "THE INDIANS." This was a
rousing production complete with a true Wild West Show.

Other well received productions at Pacific
University which I starred in included CHARLEY'S AUNT, which we toured,
THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH and George M. Cohan's THE TAVERN.

"I'm
Charley's aunt from Brazil. You know -- where the nuts come from!"

"How can you send this pitiful creature out
into the thunder and the terrors of the night?" The Vagabond
pleads to the suspicious innkeeper for the shelter of a mysterious
fainted woman discovered in the woodshed one dark and stormy night
in George M. Cohan's delightful melodrama "The Tavern."
One of my favorite roles!

"Ah,
what a night! It's a storybook night for me. It was worth being
born to have lived on a night like this!"

THEODORE
SIZER (1910-1997) Professor and Director of the Theatre Department
at Pacific University from 1963-1976 at his retirement home in Mexico
in 1983, the day we learned that Estelle Winwood had turned 100.
I was visiting from New York and he brought me the "The Turn
Of The Century" script I had sent him, the one about the 100-year-old
actress living in California. "Quick!" says he. "Take
the train to Los Angeles and show this to her!" I did. And
met a legend.

Professor
Sizer was a veteran of the 166th Signal Corp in World War II. He
filmed a lot of those horrifying motion pictures of the liberation
of the concentration camps in 1945. His combat buddy was Russ Meyer,
the filmmaker responsible for such entertainments as "Faster
Pussycat Kill! Kill!" which John Waters is attributed to having
declared "Beyond a doubt, the best movie ever made."

Theatre
took a back seat in late 1972 when I traveled to Mexico for many
months. I studied at the Universidad de Queretaro, explored the
country from Sinaloa to Michoacan to the Yucatan and shot a film.
I have returned to Mexico often, to remote and unspoiled lands.
To other worlds, really. How long have I lived in Mexico? Siempre
-- in my heart; in my soul. My knowledge of Mexico and the Spanish
language is a superb compliment to my Jewish-American experience
along with my emersion into the English language via all the Western
arts; through my experience, familiarity and kinship to Latino culture
I have expanded immeasurably and am convinced that Shakespeare had
a Latin/Romantic sensibility!

In the fall of 1973 I enrolled at UCLA's Motion
Picture/Television Department where I wrote screenplays, made films
and learned the art of acting for film and TV from the late great
Professor Arthur B. Friedman who once exclaimed that I "have
the kind of impassioned enthusiasm for acting I haven't seen since
Basil Rathbone!"

(Pardon the lousy camera work and poor picture
quality on the above videos. Those were undergrads just learning
and these scenes were one-take wonders.)

The inspirational Arthur Friedman. He's
the great movie historian who interviewed Stan Laurel in 1957 the
week after Oliver Hardy's passing. Professor Friedman kindly gave
me a copy of his interview in 1975. Here's a link to that recording:

Another favorite professor at UCLA was Robert
Rosen who provided many insights into the art and theory of cinema.
Today he is the Dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

I graduated UCLA in 1975
with a B.A. from the Motion/Picture Television Department on a Friday;
on Saturday I was cast in an original production of Thad Taylor's
The Shakespeare Society of America in Hollywood "The First
Actress" which led me to a career as a professional stage actor.

I appeared in several Shakesparean productions
there, including "Richard III" with Deveren Bookwalter
and "The Merchant Of Venice" with Allan Rich, John Megna
and Annie Potts.

Above: John Megna as Solanio, yours truly as Salerio
in "THE MERCHANT OF VENICE." John was a well known child
actor whose notable appearances included "TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD"
(1962), "HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE" (1964) and in the
"The Magic Shop" episode (1964) of "The Alfred Hitchcock
Hour." John died too soon in 1995 at the age of 42.

Then there were six fascinating
months as a playwright member at Ralph Waite's Los Angeles Actors
Theatre. I can't even BEGIN to talk about that right now.

My acting career really took
off in 1977 when I was cast by The Old Globe Theatre in my home
town of San Diego to portray Private Napoleon Alexander Trotsky
Meek in George Bernard Shaw's 1931 political comedy "TOO TRUE
TO BE GOOD."

PRIVATE
MEEK: part Gunga Din, part Lawrence of Arabia

J. Michael Straczynski, reviewing
"TOO TRUE TO BE GOOD" for The Daily Aztec wrote: "Special
mention must go to Craig Calman, who as Private Napoleon Alexander
Trotsky Meek is a limitless warehouse of visual and facial characteristics
that are hysterically perfect and beyond price."

And Frances L. Bardacke of San Diego Magazine
wrote:

"George Bernard
Shaw's play was given royal treatment. It was altogether an excellent
production with everyone just as they should be. But when Meek (Craig
Calman) was on stage his smile and dust stole the show. An inheritance,
I suppose."

"Frasier's" Kelsey Grammer played the
lead but guess who won an Atlas Award as Best Comedy Actor? (Kelsey's
the guy in the old fashioned bathing suit at the left holding his
ears during this battle scene that Private Meek is commanding.)

San Diego Tribune
theater critic Bill Hagen wrote "In the hands of director
Mark Lamos and an awesomely gifted cast, the Old Globe Theatre production
is spellbinding theater, an evening of riveting entertainment."

What a dream place is The
Old Globe Theatre, nestled in
beautiful Balboa Park, San Diego.

Here is a 1985 photo of the Old Globe's three guiding
lights: Thomas Hall, Jack O'Brien and Executive Producer
Craig Noel (1915-2010) who ran the theatre from 1947 on.

Cast portrait of Jack O'Brien's "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM"
during the first season of the newly-rebuilt Festival Stage
in 1978. I played the Coach Beetle, circled in red. Critic
Jonathan Saville wrote: "Those intricately wrought, wiry, meshy,
insect-like rococo extravaganzas that Robert Morgan has designed
as costumes for the fairies are beautiful in a ghastly lepidopteral
way and belong to the heavy, decadent, late Victorian nightmare
world of Arthur Rackham."

"Henry V" directed by
Craig Noel with G. Wood as a French Royal, myself as a French Page,
unidentified Umbrella Attendee, Jonathan McMurtry as the French
King and Kelsey Grammer as the Dauphin. This exciting, colorful
and handsome production opened the new outdoor Festival Stage at
the Old Globe in June 1978. We toured this play to Scottsdale, AZ
in September.

I also played Bardolph, one of
the English low-lifes in "Henry V." At the tavern visiting
Mistress Quickly (Jody Horowitz) before going off to war are (left
to right) Nathan Haas, John Napierela, myself and on the floor,
future star of the "Reanimator" horror films, Jeffrey
(Dr. Herbert West) Combs.

Following a season with the 1978 Shakespeare Festival
which toured to Scottsdale, Arizona, I worked at other San Diego
Theatres as both actor, director and playwright, including a stint
as Pantalone in commedia dell' arte street theatre.

In a sketch of "The
Good Doctor," Marquis Public Theatre, San Diego 1979.

In the fall of 1979 I moved to New York City where
I soon joined SAG and AEA, did commercials, worked on Broadway (once
so far!) but mostly off and off-off as well as for several theatre
companies on the East Coast. Notable roles include William Shakespeare
in G.B. Shaw's "DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS," Bob Acres in
"THE RIVALS," Bottom in "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM"
and Rosencrantz in both "HAMLET" and "ROSENCRANTZ
& GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD" for the Boston Shakespeare Company.

The comical and cowardly Bob Acres about to duel
in Sheridan's 18th Century classic "The Rivals."

I was Rosencrantz with Courtney B. Vance early
in his career as The Player King, Boston Shakespeare Company.

One of those zany Federal Express commercials by
Joe Seidelmeyer

In 1986 I returned
to California and continued to write and work behind the scenes
for the major motion picture studios including Disney, 20th Century
Fox, MGM-UA and most significantly Orion Pictures where I narrated
some promo films including an Alec Baldwin project. I also had featured
or starring roles in a number of USC and UCLA graduate student films
as well as professional commercials at this time.

Photos by Westside Studio.

Above: Two posters for a TV commercial for Toyota's
Starlet which appeared in Tokyo subways back in '91-'92.
Director and crew flew to California from Japan and we
filmed on location in the Joshua Tree desert. I did my own
stunt driving, to the chagrin of my passenger!

Starring in title role as "FLESTERON IN
AMAZONIA" an erotic fantasy for Playboy Channel. I am surrounded
by real Playboy bunnies.

MacBeth. Photo by Ed Freeman

I also appeared in several
plays in Los Angeles including "THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE..."
"THE FIREBUGS" and 'RICHARD III."

In 1994 at the Knightsbridge Theatre, Pasadena
as the cowardly Lord Mayor of London having a rough time
of it between "Richard III"(Loren Bass) and his
henchman.

In 1995 I participated
in a whole other style of theatre when I guest starred at the Plushlife
Show in Los Angeles with Gina Lotramin and her crazy gang.

As the demented DR. COLIN
OSCOPY lusting after an unusual paramour played by famous DJ Paul
V.

Another character I played
at The Plushlife Show was Judge Mental, here taking a "side
bar" with the defense attorney.

A great commotion was created
when the star witness (Miss Va Va Voom) took the stand.

A couple of years later,
for Mardi Gras 1997 I played "El Generalisimo" in an Alexis
Del Lago cabaret extravaganza.

The cabaret took place
at Fatty's on La Cienega, a chic restaurant located in the former
home of Hollywood legend Fatty Arbuckle.

Two months after that: I worked on Steven Spielberg's
"AMISTAD."

I was given the supremely honorable opportunity
to work with Morgan Freeman in April 1997. I played an Abolitionist
in a scene which unfortunately ended up on the proverbial "cutting
room floor."

My return to the theatre:

As Gottlieb Biedermann in "THE FIREBUGS"
1999 a frightening tale about a town in Germany beset by
arsonists.

"Many strong performances
made the night enjoyable. A dangerously close to over-the-top performance
by Craig Calman provided the frenetic energy necessary to remind
us that this dark play was indeed a dark comedy."
- NoHo News review

Yours Truly is feeling the heat starring in"THE FIREBUGS"and getting
no respect from his house guests who turn out to be a couple of
serial arsonists. This classic nightmare had a set that looked as
though it came from the 1919 German film "The Cabinet of Dr.
Caligari." The Los Angeles Times reviewer wrote that I reminded
him of "a young Bert ('Cowardly Lion') Lahr." I was actually
attempting a John Barrymore interpretation. On thoughtful reflection,
the character of Biedermann is a Cowardly Lion of a bourgeoisnouveau richewho fancies himself a Hamlet!

"I don't believe
in class distinctions! You must have felt that. I'm not old fashioned.
On the contrary. I'm genuinely sorry that among the lower classes
people still blather about class distinctions. Aren't we all creatures
of one creator nowadays, whether we're rich or poor? The middle class
too. Aren't we both flesh and blood, you and I?....I don't know, Herr
Eisenring, whether you also smoke cigars?"

"The
most obvious strength of this production: tactful, symbolic exaggeration
of behavior from voice to gesture to the movement of the eyes which
lays plain the moral in this amoral tale. Biedermann spends immense
amounts of energy stifling his suspicions, convincing himself that
this is all some wild joke. Calman masters the dance of the complacent
suburbanite, his hands compulsively straightening collar and tie folding
together in a kind of unconscious prayer as he blathers on in the
why-can't-we-all-just-get-along vein."
- Backstage West

Biedermann attempts to "unspool"
the mystery of The Firebugs.

Shenanigans in the attic. The Firebugs
attempt to convince the Inspector that all those barrels in Biedermann's
home are merely filled with hair tonic -- not gasoline!

"Playwright Max Frisch
cleverly designed this classic to illustrate Europe's indifference
to the Nazi rise to power. Finding himself all too comfortable in
the land of denial, wealthy hair tonic manufacturer Gottlieb Biedermann
(Craig Calman) continually offers comfort to his manipulating guests
in hopes of winning their approval. A very talented cast plays both
sides of the cowardly Biedermann as he sends himself racing toward
his own destruction." - NoHo News

"Joking is the third
best method of hoodwinking people. The second best is sentimentality....But
the best and safest method is to tell the plain unvarnished truth.
Oddly enough. No one believes it."

In June 2000 I was invited to join The Actor's Studio Playwright/Director
Unit headed by Mark Rydell and Lyle Kessler.

On Halloween Day 2000 my
associate Anthony Zipper and his daughter Calistra were guests on
THE HOWARD STERN RADIO SHOW with subsequent appearances on both
CBS-TV and E! Entertainment Television. Details can be found on
the HTSA page on this website.

In October 2002
I made my acting debut for the Actors Studio and when I returned
to the the boards in January 2003 Mark Rydell declared me to be
"as always an exciting, imaginative, eccentric, bizarre and
brave actor."

October 2002: A week prior to her wedding, Calistra and Anthony
Zipper appeared at The Comedy Underground, Santa Monica, California,
guests of the zany songstress-comedienne Rachel Arieff.

October 2004: The Robey Theatre Company production
of "FOR THE LOVE OF FREEDOM PART III: CHRISTOPHE (THE SPIRIT)
PASSION AND GLORY." The Haiti Revolution 1806-1820. I play
two roles: SIR HOME POPHAM, English diplomat who attempts to broker
peace between the warring Blacks and Mulattos:

Photo by Chrison Thompson

Photo courtesy Robey Theatre Company

Karl Calhoun as Henri Christophe (1767-1820) who
ruled Haiti from 1807 until his death, first as President, then
as King. Yours truly as Sir Home Popham, English diplomat who befriended
Christophe. Ironically, Popham died in England 18 days before Christophe
who, facing the invasion of his enemies the Mulattos, committed
suicide rather than face capture at his palace San Soucci.

...and I also played BASSE, the Swiss-German architect
who built the great fortress La Citadel for King Henri Christophe:

Original photo by Stephon Fuller

Summer 2006 finds me filming a special
video project as the Vampire General Duke Ivan:

"Dracula is an insect that
means nothing!"

And the characters
keep coming...

July 2007: As a hapless tomato inspector
in a short by Brandon Kaplan.

Beginning to transform myself into
Dr. Sancho, Administrator of a 17th Century Spanish Asylum for the
Mentally Disturbed.

April - June 2009: Return to the "legitimate"
stage as Dr. Sancho in Lope De Vega's "Madness In Valencia"
written in 1614 at The Sacred Fools Theater, Los Angeles.

The Zany trio from the Valencia madhouse,
Dr. Sancho, head of the asylum, Thomas, an inmate, and Dr. Verino,
expert on insanity.

Laura Napoli as Fedra, Dr. Sancho's niece,
is in love with a madman!

Dr. Sancho consults Dr. Verino (Brandon
Clark) expert on the aberrations of love who declares the only way
to cure Fedra is for her to believe she will marry the madman.

Fedra is overjoyed when her uncle tells
her she can marry the madman, and leads him in a zany dance. What
will Dr. Sancho do now?

Backstage magazine's critic
called me "appropriately peppery as the administrator of the
asylum."

I've come full circle: From Sancho Panza in
1970 to Dr. Sancho in 2009.

In April 2010 I began a brand
new adventure in acting. I was chosen to be an office regular in
the firm of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, a New York City ad agency
in 1964. The show is the AMC Cable Television series "Mad Men."
I began with the first episode of Season 4. As of March 2013 I have
appeared on the show for three seasons.

Also in 2010 I appeared in
two indie projects playing a father in both of them.

Don receives an unexpected
and unwelcomed visit from his estranged daughter in "Book of
Alice" directed by Graig Gilkeson.

In "Wishful Sinful"
by Brad Bores I play a stroke victim suffering abuse and neglect
from one of his sons.

ABC TV series "Switched At Birth."
I appeared on Season 2, Episode 2 first aired January 14, 2013

NBC TV Series "Community" I appeared
as one of the janitors attending a costume party. I'm the guy on
the right wearing a white feathered admiral's hat. Seated with a
white fur wrap is comic Eddie Pepitone. Season 4, Episode 11 'Basic
Human Anatomy' first aired April 25, 2013.

From January through April 2013 I worked
on AMC TV series "Mad Men" Season 6 as a background office
employee. I will appear on Episodes 6 through 13. Episode 6 will
air May 5, 2013. Imagine my surprise seeing the above on IMDb.